Natalie, A Young Art Student In New York City, Is Struggling To Pay Her Bills When A Friend Makes A Suggestion Why Not Go Online And Find A Sugar Daddy A Wealthy, Older Man Who Will Pay Her For Dates, And Even Give Her A Monthly Allowance Lots Of Girls Do It, Nat Learns All That S Required Is To Look Pretty And Hang On His Every Word Sexual Favours Are Optional.Though Than Thirty Years Her Senior, Gabe, A Handsome Corporate Finance Attorney, Seems Like The Perfect Candidate, And Within A Month, They Are Madly In Love At Least, Nat Is Gabe Already Has A Family, Whom He Has No Intention Of Leaving.So When He Abruptly Ends Things, Nat Can T Let Go She Begins Drinking Heavily And Stalking Him Watching Him At Work, Spying On His Wife, Even Befriending His Daughter, Who Is Not Much Younger Than She Is But Gabe S Not About To Let His Sugar Baby Destroy His Perfect Life What Was Supposed To Be A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement Devolves Into A Nightmare Of Deception, Obsession, And, When A Body Is Found Near Gabe S Posh Upper East Side Apartment, Murder.

2.5 stars A fabulous premise marred by too many cliches When Natalie, a 22 year old art student, loses her job, she has two choices take out a student loan gasp or become a Sugar Baby She chooses the latter While she isn t completely comfortable with becoming a Sugar Baby and grossed out by the prospect of having to potentially touch or sleep with older men, she finds herself surprisingly attracted to Gabe, her first daddy date.Gabe is a powerful and attractive corporate cutthroat attorney in his 50 s Gabe, married for 29 years, has an 18 year old daughter He justifies his indiscretions apparently he has had several due to his wife letting herself go physically after she got cancer she is currently in remission Did I mention that he is vile Here is an example of the thoughts that run through his head If he spent too much time alone with the crazy bitch, he would either f ck her or kill her Natalie and Gabe begin dating, and soon Natalie falls in love with him She and Gabe come to an arrangement they will date exclusively and he will pay her rent, gives her a monthly allowance and buy her expensive gifts But when he breaks off their relationship, Natalie finds herself obsessed with hurting the man who betrayed her, even if it means destroying his family When one of them winds up dead, the other is put under the spotlight and their baby daddy relationship is exposed to the masses.Natalie and Gabe are giant cliches and lack chemistry Their characters have little depth and I couldn t care less about them Both were horrible people, although Natalie s character is likable than Gabe s I didn t have to like them to enjoy this novel, but they needed to have some depth of emotion, instead, they just fell very wooden Both spend a lot of reminiscing about their relationship this might be one of the reasons why I didn t feel their chemistry.I was expecting a juicy, tawdry read but I was underwhelmed by the characters and the writing I found Harding s writing style to be a little odd there is way too much telling vs seeing but also something just felt off I can t put my finger on what it was exactly.Reading The Arrangement is like watching a bad Lifetime movie I wanted to look away, but I couldn t The ending saved it a bit, which is why I bumped up my rating I love the premise of The Arrangement as I find the whole Sugar Daddy Sugar Baby dynamic fascinating However, the execution failed I was hoping this would be a fun, entertaining psychological thriller, but sadly it missed the mark I won a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway

Trying to decide whether I d rather spend time with Gabe or Natalie is like asking whether I d rather be shot or stabbed Both of these people are hideous and it s fabulous.This book is like a Lifetime movie on a Saturday afternoon with a big bowl of popcorn, some Hot Tamales, my kids doing something else and my husband off golfing It s indulgent and too much but in that great way that goes so well with slouchy socks and sweatpants.Gabe is a vile, disgusting 1 percenter looking for a young side piece and Natalie is a desperate 21 year old with a hot body, no real world common sense, and an arguable sense of self They meet on a site where Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies connect and, well, everything goes wrong I really enjoyed this twisted tale of stalking, obsession, and revenge I even had popcorn and Hot Tamales.Thank you to Robyn Harding, Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books Gallery Scout Press and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to the sugar bowl I really, really wanted to read this I made a special trip to NetGalley to request it and of course, because I can never request just one, I now have like 12 arcs than I need or have time for, but so it goes I loved the idea of a sugar daddy sugar baby relationship I wanted to read about that dynamic and feel it and love it in all it s twisted glory.But something important is missing for me here, and I ve decided it s authenticity.Nat, our protagonist, simply does not read like a desperate 21 year old sugar baby I couldn t help but think people this age don t speak like this through so much of this, that it really took me out of the story Also I can t respect her at all Not because she s a sugar baby I will never find this phrase less ridiculous to type , but because she has no regard for anyone but herself When she finds out her sugar daddy is married, she fights to make it work behind the wife s back Her oh so close friend who introduces her to the sugar baby life has an awful situation, leaves town, and though she s a big part of the first half, Nat literally never thinks about her or mentions her again She s kind of not a human being I can root for And that s what he needed blind devotion He got off on it His enormous ego could only be fed by pure adoration.He was a narcissist A sociopath A monster So why did she still miss him I also felt the writing was odd and stilted in a lot of ways And the end is an entire chapter of a person lost in their memories of what really happened that night and I always recognize this as a convenient but overdone way to close out a thriller.All that aside, this is compulsively readable I had to know what would happen and I was upset every time I was pulled away from this Had I had time, I would have read it really quickly The pacing is good and there was a chapter or two of the omgomgomg kind of excitement where I couldn t read fast enough Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for advance access to this book in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to Gallery Books partner for gifting me a copy of The Arrangement by Robyn Harding I really enjoyed Her Pretty Face last year so I was super excited to get to The Arrangement First of all, if there is a Sugar Daddy Baby involved I don t care what the genre is, I M READING IT Well, not fantasy Nat is a young artist going to college and trying survive in the city She works in a bar for some money but can barely pay the bills Nat is stressed, her roommates can t stand her and she s worried about being kicked out After venting to her classmate, Ava, about her current situation, Ava tells her about a Sugar Daddy website Nat wants nothing to do with it at first but she comes to realize she doesn t have much of a choice.Enter Gabe the no strings sugar daddy to the rescue I loved hearing Gabe s POV He s an old powerful lawyer in NYC but he s rich He also has a family, say WHAT The prologue tells us someone has been murdered but we don t know for sure who until towards the end I had some theories but I was wrong which is always good The drama, lies, betrayals and murder, yaaaas I m so here for it 4.5 Edit I forgot the most important part I AM IN THE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Givemeallthebooks that s my name

Robyn Harding s been in the game for a couple of years now, and she s become a mainstream success after her debut of the 2017 smash contemporary mystery The Party I got around to catching up on Harding s work last summer after her other hit novel Her Pretty Face was released Her writing was impeccable, and perfect for summer relaxation reading When I heard Robyn was coming out with another book, this time being about a sugar daddy baby relationship gone haywire, I knew I needed to read it It s not every day when you read about these kinds of relationships but they re really everywhere The Arrangement showcases how common these types of arrangements truly are, but this time, we get a voyeuristic view into a world that is uncommonly talked about The Arrangement is truly Robyn Harding s best work yet.Natalie Nat is an art student at NYU, living in Bushwick, Brooklyn with her two roommates, and living paycheck to paycheck Nat is behind on her rent, and utility bills, and her roommates are not as supportive as she would like them to be They feel as if she parades men around the apartment too much, and her drinking has spiraled out of control Nat needs money, and she needs it fast While at school, Nat befriends a fellow colleague in one of her classes This colleague is dressed impeccably, and when they study together at her Chelsea apartment, Nat realizes that this chick is rich When she finds out that her classmate has signed up for a sugar baby daddy site, and that s how she s able to live this insane lifestyle, Nat is skeptical but intrigued Nat is told that dates can go upwards of 500 just for a dinner She doesn t even need to make it sexual, unless she wants to Nat decides that her desperation to survive in the unforgiving city of New York is grounds for her joining her classmate s side business and she makes a profile on the site What s the worst that can happen On the site, she immediately develops an arrangement with an older successful lawyer, Gabe Gab and Nat s chemistry is hot and heavy immediately and the two venture into an agreement Monthly allowance for weekly time spent together Nat is ecstatic not only are her bills being paid, and she s living quite lavishly, she s met a guy who truly understands and appreciates her When Gabe starts realizing that his relationship with Nat is getting in the way of his family s protection, things take a quite interesting turn Can this agreement last I m calling it now The Arrangement is the best book I ve read thus far in 2019 The Arrangement is a sexy, sinister, and deviously delicious tale that will engage you from chapter 1, all the way until you reach the than satisfying ending I appreciate Robyn Harding going into this realm of taboo and knocking it out of the park I couldn t put this book down, and if I could ve, I would ve read this in one sitting damn work What engaged me so much into this story was the level of authenticity each character provided While nobody was really that likable, I was able to relate to the struggles of being young and living in New York City It s truly remarkable how people can survive here, and Harding showcases that struggle to the forefront Nat s relationship with her sugar daddy Gabe was very captivating to me, and I couldn t wait to see what happens While I was reading, I literally, couldn t think about anything else but finishing this story I needed to know how Nat and Gabe s relationship develops, and I needed to know everything else in between Luckily for this story, Harding provides a killer ending one that you will definitely not be able to guess, and one that delivers.

Last year I devoured Harding s book Her Pretty Face and was recommending it like crazy to anyone that would listen, so when I heard she had a new book coming out I didn t even bother to read the blurb I just knew I needed it in my life WOAH what a fun thrill ride this was I am not super knowledgeable about the whole sugar daddy sugar baby arrangement world but am always very intrigued to read about different lifestyles I also thought it was really neat the author mentioned in the acknowledgments that she actually set up an online account and was able to interview actual sugar babies It s funny because for me to love a book I usually have to like the characters but none aside from Oleg were very likeable OR I have to connect with at least one of them which I did not BUT the storyline had me absolutely hooked By the time I hit around page 200 there was definitely no putting the book down and I knew I was in for a late night.After reading two five star books in a row from Harding I think it s safe to say I m a huge fan and cannot wait to see what she comes up with next Thank you Gallery Books for sending me an advanced copy of this book.

You hear a lot about these type of dating sites Some may say they are not safe Some use them and have no issues Harding took a look at these dating apps and developed a story that may freak you out a bit.It started out with a solid development and slow build into the main plot Gabe was a decent guy Treated his girls right Stand up family man with issues he had to deal with at home Nat is an immature girl learning to live in the big city Lost Impressionable Broke.What I liked about the story was the fact it is not a far fetched idea The author subtly built the plot, dripping hints and issues here and there The dating and how sweet Gabe treated Nat Then we get the feeling of little bit of mental instability here and there You know something big is going to happen.And then it starts going downhill.I have to say I was very disappointed in the last quarter and the ending While there were several surprises and turn of events, it just felt very flat and matter of fact for me.There was no excitement Very little suspense at the end for me I really was expecting of a bombshell It almost seems like someone else wrote it Maybe it s me, but she lost me.Overall, the story is unique and well told, with some good twists in it If it wasn t for the ending being as drab as it came off, I definitely would ve rated it higher I really wanted to love the heck out of this one copy received for review consideration Full Review

OH MY FREAKING WORD The Arrangement by Robyn Harding was a twisted suspenseful and unlike anything I have ever read The characters were absolutely insane, I m talking narcissistic, sociopathic and obsessive Natalie, let me just say that I have no idea how I actually feel for her She started out so innocent and sweet and really had a moral dilemma with being a sugar baby and was constantly warring with herself trying because she thought she was a prostitute.That was until she fell in love and became obsessed with her sugar daddy What s so fascinating to me is that she had an ex boyfriend that was obsessive to the point of stalking her and she feared for her life, but she turned around and acted the exact same way to her lover There are just SOO many things I want tell you about this book but I really don t want to ruin any of the twists and turns, just know that The Arrangement is a book filled with insane characters making crazy choices that you and I would probably never make Once the truth of what happened is revealed you are just going to be blown away The Arrangement is a thriller that is intense and twisty and utterly shocking and I can t recommend it enough to you